The Red Nights - Volume 1 Chapter 22 The Basketball Court

After spreading the posters Matteo had also to prepare the venue for the speech . Lina told before that there were two squares in the town and both of them were enough big to contain the host of people which would come, the question remained about which one would be the most suitable for a such event .

At that moment he was walking for the second place after having already visited the first one . It was a vast court concreted with a wooden stage just before it , he thought that it was a simple spot and it would be easy to prepare it , he would only have to install the seats as he already knew the exact amount of people who would be there if they all decided to come , the stage was already equipped with all the materials needed and even if it had to last until the night there were some projectors already provided.

In fact he didn’t need to go seeing the other spot as he was fine with that one [ well, anyway I don’t have anything else to do, I can just go to take a look] he said to himself when he decided to go [ moreover I rather prefer hanging out in the town than going back to the city hall and being spectator to both Natasha and Lina’s quarrels ] he declared .

The place he was heading was at the east of the city, where the majority of the new citizens were living, Matteo thought that it was the only advantage it had and the first spot would remain his first choice, however when he arrived there he nearly changed his mind. The square itself was in reality a vast outdoor basketball court which was surrounded by bleachers superimposed on each other so that it formed kind of stairs.

Matteo reached the center of the court and turned around himself slowly to have a good view of the place and as he was observing he started to reconsider his decision, even though it would need from him a little more effort to make it ready for the announcement, it didn’t bother him, in fact he had already made up his mind to work on it as he was convinced that it would definitely look better than the first place he had visited. ” it will look like the era of the ancient Romans when they used to organize parliamentary meetings ” he said to himself to justify his decision.

A rapid calculation of the bleachers and he was reassured, as Lina said the square was enough big to be able to receive all the guests, ” well now I have decided for the venue let’s go looking for the materials we will need ” he said enthusiastically.

He returned back to the first venue with the intention to move from there all the stuffs to the basketball court, but as he arrived he was facing another problem. They were too many and heavy to carry them. [ I need a vehicle ] he thought and the only solution appeared in his mind was to go ask for Lina’s car ” I don’t even know driving ” he recalled suddenly ” I can’t ask to her or Natasha to give me a drive, they must be repeating her discourse ” he sighed as he didn’t find any idea ” I don’t have any other friends here to help me ” and as he said that a group of young people came before him .

He stepped back suspicious and said ” Hello , is there any problem guys ? ” , in fact they didn’t look scary at all he just didn’t have the habit to interact with people of the same age. He started to work early since his younger age so he used to be in professional circles where there were only a.d.u.l.ts with whom he could talk. Because of that he had been regretting his precocious maturity , he would have wanted hanging out with some friends, going out with girls and just living a careless life for some years before growing up like a normal boy .

A tall boy headed out from the small crowd and stepped forward , when he prepared to take the talk Matteo almost concluded that he was the chief of the crew, however before he did so the girl who was just in front of Matteo and was gazing at him intensively , rose her hand on the side to stop the big guy and he immediately changed his mind in regards to who was the leader.

” We saw you hanging posters all along the city ” she firstly said by showing the streets on where the ads were laying ” it said that there is a big announcement this evening ” she paused to look deeper into his eyes ” what is it about? ”

Meanwhile Matteo had the time to calm down and regain consciousness from the effect they had had on him few seconds earlier, he was no more overawed by them. He slowly straightened his body , he took his favorite condescending facial features and sustained the girl’s sight ” firstly let’s introduce ourselves properly I’m Matteo and I’m working for the mayor ” he moved his hand forward toward the girl ” what about you? ”

He expected that they would react aggressively or at least being a little reluctant to answer however they greatly presented themselves starting by the big dude and they finished by the girl who was leading them . Matteo heard them but he didn’t care so much but he well memorized the girl’s name,” Dana”, [ it quite suits her ] he thought .

” Now tell us, what is the big announcement the mayor has to do? ” Dana asked one more time but with a little more pressure.

” I’m sorry it’s a confidential information, I don’t have the authority to tell you ” he gently answered even though Lina never mentioned that it should be secret .

Dana nodded ” but at least can you tell us where it should be? In your posters there were no specific venue mentioned, it only said that it would be tomorrow “.

To say the truth, Lina wanted at the first time to hold it the same day, she suggested that it would be better if they did it as soon as possible and it might enhance the effect of the pressure. But he managed to convince her to postpone it at the next day to let him have the time to prepare it , he also added that they should let the information that some of people were proposed to get a job stretching out among the people ” we will make use of their envy as they may be jealous and envious that such an offer has been proposed to someone else and when tomorrow we will ask them if they want to join they will not hesitate ” he said to support his arguments.

At the final she accepted his plan ” OK, we will do as you said however I would want you to print two kinds of announcements. The first one it will be indicated only the date and you will hang them this morning and the second one you will print it after you added the venue you have chosen and you will spread them at the afternoon ”

At that moment he couldn’t understand the reason of this odd request and when he asked her for some more explanations she just told him to do so . Now he had this group in front of him he started to get it [ she just wanted to stoke people’s curiosity ] he finally figured out.

Suddenly an idea came to his ” well , the venue, I justly intended to go there ” he pointed the wooden stage ” but I have a problem I need to carry all those stuffs to install them there for the preparation of the invent “.

They all turned to the direction he was spotting ” you want us to help you ? ” Dana asked him.

” Yeah if you don’t mind ”

” No it’s not a problem ” she turned back to her crew and with a movement of her head she ordered them to go starting to transport the materials and Matteo followed them few seconds later.

The group was composed about 11 people without counting Dana , the five boys who were looking sinewy brought the heaviest machines especially the tallest dude who carried two big projectors by himself. The six girls remaining transported only some iron bars and curtains . They took care of almost the totality of the materials, Matteo found that he had only the microphone in his hand with the bar which usually sustained it Dana , who was walking by his side , didn’t bring anything, her two hands remained hidden in the pockets of her jacket .

On the way she was all quiet , he noticed that she wanted to say something or rather to ask him about something but she seemed to be hesitant so he chose to take the first step ” what is it? ”

” huh ? ”

He sighed and rolled his eyes ” you want to ask something, don’t you? So just go ahead ”

She looked a bit embarrassed but it didn’t last long, she took a deep breath and said ” You know him , don’t you? This famous man everyone in here is talking about, Jamal . I mean before you told I have already figured out that you’re working at the city hall and it said that the mayor is a close friend of him so you must have met him or just seen him even once, don’t you? ”

For a little moment Matteo was speechless about many things concerning what she said, he was firstly stunned by the sudden change of personality, few minutes before she was walking like a charismatic gang leader with the hands in her pockets who opened her mouth only it’s necessary now she was acting like a groupie and the second thing was he didn’t imagine that Jamal was such a celebrity , of course he knew that he was a big person in the whole Stainfall but he didn’t expect him to be so popular that even people were always talking about him in the streets, he was almost like a rockstar and as he imagined that a worrisome thought came within his mind [ if he is so much considerate by his people how will they react when they will hear that he left the city ? ] .

While he was lost in his thoughts Dana continued staring at him with her eyes which were now sparkling, ” so is it true? Do you know him personally? “. He sighed as he couldn’t just turn her down regarding the amount of work she released from him , he owe her at least the truth ” Yeah I know him ” he declared ” so what, is there anything more to add ? ”

Meanwhile , it happened that they already arrived at the square. Jamal told to the crew to set down all the stuffs they were carrying on a corner of the court . When they finished they stepped out that place, excepted Dana . While her buddies were leaving she stayed there facing Matteo and once they were alone she ” we didn’t finish talking yet ”